This invention relates in general to an apparatus for chilling a beverage piped from a remote source, which apparatus can be local to a dispenser of the beverage, and more particularly to such an apparatus which can separately chill a plurality of different beverages.
While this invention can be used to cool a variety of liquids, it is particularly useful for chilling and dispensing a plurality of carbonated beverages, such as beer. Beer generally refers to fermented alcoholic malt beverages, generally flavored with hops, and commonly referred to as beer, stout and ale. As used herein, beer also refers to versions of such products which may contain little or no alcohol.
While beer is commonly served warm in some parts of the world, such as Great Britain, Americans, particularly North Americans, prefer their beer served chilled. Americans also prefer a minimum amount of foam or froth with their beer. Because beer is carbonated, it naturally foams when released from a pressurized container, but such foaming is minimized if the beer is served close to its freezing temperature of approximately 29xc2x0 F. While this is not a problem for bottled or canned beer which can be kept chilled in a refrigerator near its point of sale, draft beer is conventionally contained in large kegs which generally must be stored remote from their dispensing taps. Beer from a remote keg is piped to a tap by tubing which is commonly referred to as a beer xe2x80x9cline.xe2x80x9d Beer in a keg is pressurized to propel the beer through its line to the tap. To minimize foaming as beer is poured from a tap, the keg feeding the tap is typically stored in a large, walk-in refrigerator or cooler to reduce the temperature of the beer.
This invention addresses problems which are inherent in the use of such large kegs. Depending upon the size of the establishment, a walk-in cooler can be a considerable distance, as much as several hundred feet, from the establishment""s dispensing taps. This means that the beer must traverse long unrefrigerated lines from the kegs to the taps, and so the beer is warmed along the way, especially if the beer sits in the lines any appreciable time in between pours. Also, because of cost factors, other customer consumables are typically stored in the walk-in coolers along with the kegs, consumables which cannot be stored at near 29xc2x0 F., and so the coolers must be restricted to temperatures no lower than approximately 38xc2x0 F. which is much higher than desirable for minimizing foam and maximizing flavor.
Conventionally these problems are addressed by running a line containing a coolant, such as Glycol, and its return line juxtaposed with the beer lines in an insulated sleeve. The proximity of the coolant lines to the beer lines draws heat from the beer lines. However, the coolant lines and the beer lines are typically flexible nylon or plastic tubing which do not conduct heat very well, and the heat transfer interfaces, i.e., points of contact between the beer lines and the coolant lines are not reliable or consistent. Depending on bends and twists, there can be very little actual contact between the coolant lines and beer lines. In other words, for much of the distance travelled, some of the beer lines often may not even touch a coolant line. Even at best, a beer line and a coolant line can only make tangential contact since they are both circular in cross-section. Thus the results have not been satisfactory. Using these conventional systems, the temperature of beer flowing from a tap typically is not much lower than the ambient temperature (higher than desirable as explained above) in the walk-in cooler in which the kegs are stored.
This invention solves the problem of delivering a pressurized beverage, e.g. keg beer, to a distant tap at a temperature higher than desired. Additionally it can simultaneously cool a plurality of beverage lines, satisfactorily chilling the beverage in each line for dispensing to customers. Also it can be selectively configurable according to the number of beverage lines needing to be chilled.
Other advantages and attributes of this invention will be readily discernable upon a reading of the text hereinafter.
An object of this invention is to provide an apparatus for locally chilling to a desired temperature a plurality of beverages being piped from a remote location.
Another object of this invention is to provide such an apparatus for chilling a plurality of beverages in transit in respective beverage lines.
Another object of this invention is to provide such an apparatus which can effectively operate outside, as well as inside, a walk-in cooler.
Another object of this invention is to provide an apparatus for locally chilling to a desired temperature a plurality of beers being piped from kegs at a remote location.
Another object of this invention is to provide an apparatus for chilling locally to respective taps a plurality of beers being piped from kegs at a remote location.
Another object of this invention is to provide a chilling apparatus as described above including a shell containing a coolant through which beverage lines traverse.
Another object of this invention is to provide an apparatus as described in the preceding paragraph in which at least one line makes a plurality of passes through the coolant in the shell.
Another object of this invention is to provide an apparatus as described above in which at least one line includes multiple branches through the coolant.
Another object of this invention is to provide an apparatus as described above which is small enough to be located proximate the dispensing taps.
Another object of this invention is to provide an apparatus as described above designed to easily affect repairs to beverage lines outside the shell.
Another object of this invention is to provide an apparatus as described above designed to easily reroute beverage lines therethrough.
Another object of this invention is to provide an apparatus as described above which is thermostatically controlled.
These objects, and other objects expressed or implied in this document, are accomplished by an apparatus which includes a heat exchanger through which a plurality of channels, communicating with respective beverage lines, extend for chilling beverages passing through the channels. In a preferred embodiment the heat exchanger includes a shell defining a chamber containing a coolant, preferably propylene glycol. The channels extend through the chamber and are bathed in the coolant, the walls of the channels being efficient heat conductors conduct heat from the beer to the coolant bath. Preferably each beverage line communicates with a channel that includes multiple serial or multiple parallel passes through the chamber. A significant advantage is that the apparatus need not be installed in a walk-in cooler, but rather it is preferably disposed local, or wherever convenient, to the beverage dispensing taps. Included are thermostat controls to regulate the flow of coolant to quickly cool the beer in the channels running through the heat exchanger to a temperature range of within one degree of the desired temperature of approximately 30xc2x0 F., minimizing the amount of foam when the beer is dispensed. Preferably the beverage lines between the apparatus and the taps are insulated to impede heat absorption. Preferably the flow of coolant through the chamber is controlled by two separate valves or by a single three-way valve operated by the thermostat.